the Top Ten of German Racing drivers....

Well this is my opinion on the matter and honestly they were way too many to make an honest list of all the racing drivers, but here are a few of my childhood heroes, racing heroes of all time and guys AND girls who pushed it far beyond what was thought to be possible. Buckle up and enjoy the trip through memory lane =)

#10 Nico Rosberg

honestly he is not by victories or so on this List. There are even more successful than just 9 other drivers than him. But he is to be mentioned, since he has the biggest balls of our time. A man stepping back at the height… not many can do this. And I think something like not taking any opportunity you get, sometimes let some pass if you are happy, is a healthy and good attitude to make the most of our lives. Of course we have to take opportunities to fulfill our dreams, but if you achieved them…maybe new goals in live appear and even though teams would have fought to hire him he just retired for ever. He got my respects and best wishes! Even though Formula 1 is not the most interesting Motorsport this headline even got my attention and I celebrated him for his consequent behavior!

Number 9: Bernd Rosemeyer

Solely talking about his successes and what he did and how he lost his life would given him a spot far top 5 in the List. But he was the first and only Racing Driver joining the SS in free will. And he was used for propaganda reasons… But that is another chapter.

His Success: He was the first driver crossing the 400 km/h mark in 1937. He won European championship in 1936. All this success made him valuable test driver and he (and even his wife a pilot) pushed always the limits of Technic and themselves. So Auto Union (today part of AUDI) in a new record attempt on the newly build Autobahn put him behind the wheel of an Type R (Rekordwagen) and well wind blew him of course after he passed the test track of 1 km with an average speed of 428,571 km/h on the Autobahn. The car hit the guard rail and he got thrown out of the car and instantly died. He was one of those men who neither feared death or devil.

Number 8: Marco Wittmann

Well he is two times DTM Champion drove in Formula 3 and had some success but no victory in the 24h of the Nürburgring…. well with that Supercars out in the last years BMW has nothing in that class to compete maybe it is time to get another M1 developed to beat the * out of the racing competition again. But he is on the Spot where he can make the biggest victories to come in the near future. He has the Speed and the continuity of the best, he definitely earned respect when he entered the DTM M4 and won with the new car the championship in the first year. A success that was even more impressive considering all other teammates were far behind in the new car.

Number 7: Klaus Ludwig

He is the most successful Touring car driver from Germany. He was never in the books for Formula 1 besides some test driving. He won 24h LeMans in a not Superfast Sportscar in rain, and a second time to show he is one of the best. He really love the long distance runs and after his retirement he took on the wheel whenever a racing car possible of winning turns up.

Number 6: Hans Joachim Stuck

3 times Champion of the 24h of the Nürburgring, every Time in a BMW (1998 in a BMW Diesel…yeah 24h not only about having the fastest, also the most reliable car and luck not to crash over 24 h of time). Youngest Winner I think with a team of course, but at his first Victory of the 24h Nürburgring he was just 19 years old… Hell back when i was 19 I was considered crazy that I drove a highpower RWD without ESP every day…. He f*ckin won the 24h. He was a works driver for BMW, Ford and lately for AUDI and was highly part of the development of the AUDI R8 LMS. Since 2014 he is head of the “Deutschen Motor Sport Bundes” which is the motor sport agency (or sth. like that) for Germany. So after retirement he still changes the face of our most loved sports. He won the DTM several times and was placed under top three the other times…he always went home with 3rd at least after a year of championship.

Number 5: Jutta Kleinschmidt

Well who said Multitasking is not a thing. She is smart and has a degree in physics engineering, worked for BMW in the development department in the late 80s and went Professional Rally Driver. Freakin awesome women. She was in the first only woman team getting third in Dakar rally in 1999 and won the toughest Rally in 2001 as until now the only woman. Her engineering knowledge helped her when the car was broken and the screw that attitude and go on push through…well that one settled the score. She is a successful motorcycle rider, also won the women championship in 1992 Rallye Paris-Capetown. Also 24h of the Nürburgring has several times her name on the starter field, first time 1992. Well that woman simply kicks a**es all over the world and has many more Rally Success stories. But I think she is retired since she now writes children books…kind of a career change I guess.

Number 4: Nikki Lauda

Well a well known face in the motorsport… and by Face i mean the missing right half. He is a freakin legend. Even Ayrton Senna (picture right if you live on the moon) said that this man scares the sh!t out of him when he appears in the rear view mirror. He is not Sennas Generation but another one that was, well actually two will follow. While in all honesty I have stolen that one from Austria, because technically he is an Austrian born. He won Formula 1 three times. He was a Ferrari Pilot from 1974 in 1975 he won and made himself immortal with a 6:58min time as the one and only driver on the Nürburgring Loop which was back then 22.8km long. One year later….well a corner is named after him and somewhere there is still his missing right ear. 42 days later he started in Italian GP finished fourth with a bleeding head and blood in his eyes after wounds reopened. Yes that is a man. 1977 and 1984 the next two titles came along.

Number 3: Walter Röhrl

Well you know that a man has a tendency to be a crazy driver when he says: “a fast driver can always be measured by the amount of dead flies on the side windows.” Well that is true at least in Rally Sport and this guy knew what he was doing. Night Races, impossible times, the famous S1 Urquattro that killed basically Group B and finished the competition once and for all, only maybe the Lancia had a few words to say, but this S1 was the boss in the game. Just watch Group B Videos and get a freakin smile on what happend back in the 80s. This man is a freakin Rockstar in my Mind. You got to watch his freakin doing.

Number 2: Michael Schuhmacher

Yes I know I said Formula 1 is not my sport and there are surprisingly much drivers on this List, but well…. back in the day it was actually a Sport worth watching. And this guy is the most successful driver ever lived on the planet. 91 victories in 307 races of the formula one and well…. his competition consisted out of maniacs never seen again…most of all Ayrton Senna until his death in 1994…My hair on the back still stands thinking about that story event though I was just 3 years old the story told me later and through documentations… those men were Idols to look forward to as a kid. Michael Schuhmachers`carrier is well known and just look at Wikipedia, that name sure as hell gets everybody on this page, so I stop talking about him.

Number 1: Stefan Bellof

I do not know if people still know his name…. as you might have never heard of him you might realize that this is one of those sad story endings Motorsport had back in the day. This guy was the fastest person ever walked on this planet in my Opinion. Why…well he still holds the Track Record on the Nürburgring 20.855km track you know from your games with a time of 6:11 min in his 1983 Porsche 956. This man was the biggest talent ever and that is a quote by Jackie Stewart in 1984. He was already casted for 1986 Formula 1 Season, after a few races in which he was starting for Tyrrell, which was using N/A engines, while the rest of the field had Turbos. But he was faster in the Rain then Senna…..and that in a slower car and Rain was Sennas territory right? Well really a great driver. But he died aged 27 while 24 hours of SPA. It was a racing accident, he wanted to overtake race leading Jacky Ickx in Eau Rouge and it ended in a disaster. It was not Jackys fault that he got rearended by Bellof as some people say. This corner is not to overtake someone with world class driving abilities leading a 24 h race. But it is still a pain that a man who was giving a sh!t about what people thought, had the biggest talent died at that young age. I was born over 5 years later after his death in 1985 and I f*cking know who he was and what he could have been and what he already achieved. And his Porsche can be seen driving around the Ring from time to time to remember his persona. This man entered the hall of fame for Motorsport enthusiasts for ever and is my Number one even if he has not even achieved as much as the previous on this list, because he died way to young.

This list is dominated by people who neither feared death or devil in their times and basically some of them were simply maniacs. But hell all of them have balls that big that the earth is drawn to them not the other way round. I hope you enjoyed it, I have written the last sentences a tiny bit drunk since it is shortly past midnight here in Germany, but have a nice day where ever you are! Gary inspired me to write this post, yeah you see how long it takes for me to write something… damn.